Ferraro receives Lou Loescher-Junge Service Award from School of Health Professions

John Ferraro, Ph.D., FASHA, FAA, professor and Carolyn Doughty-Margaret Kemp Chair of the Department of Hearing and Speech and co-director of the KU Intercampus Program in Communicative Disorders, has been named the 2017 Lou Loescher-Junge Service Award recipient by the School of Health Professions.

The Lou Loescher-Junge Award was established in 2016 to honor a faculty or staff member in the School of Health Professions who has consistently demonstrated exceptional abilities to lead, inspire and serve at the school, university and community levels. The award honors Loescher-Junge, who served KU Medical Center and the School of Health Professions for more than 25 years in a variety of capacities.

"This award is so meaningful to me, not only for being recognized by my colleagues for my years of service to the School of Allied Health and now Health Professions, but also because of the individual for whom it is named," Ferraro said. "Lou Loescher-Junge is a special friend and colleague who contributed so much to our school, and I'm especially proud to receive an award named in her honor."

Ferraro was recruited to the University of Kansas Medical Center in 1983 by the late Stata Norton, who was dean of the School of Allied Health at the time. Prior to coming to KU Medical Center, Ferraro earned his Bachelor of Science in biology from Southern Colorado State College, and a Master of Science in biology and a doctorate in speech and hearing sciences with a minor in audiology from the University of Denver. His first faculty appointment was at The Ohio State University.

A world-renowned guest lecturer, Ferraro is a teacher and mentor in the audiology doctoral programs, while also providing clinical expertise to the audiology clinics at KU Medical. He serves as thesis and dissertation chair and advisor for graduate students in the Department of Hearing and Speech.

His research interests include auditory electrophysiology with special emphasis on the clinical applications of auditory- and vestibular-evoked potentials. He pioneered techniques for the diagnosis, assessment and management of otological/neuro-otological disorders.

In 2015, Ferraro was selected as the Stata Norton Distinguished Teaching Award winner, and that same year he served as the interim dean of the School of Health Professions. Ferraro will be stepping down as department chair at the end of 2017, but will continue in his educational and clinical roles at KU Medical Center.